Gary Hart on Political Corruption

As the Fourth of July approaches, many disinterested persons take this time to thoughtfully reflect upon the long-term consequences of the American experiment in self-governance resulting from our revolutionary secession from the imperial British State. One such unexpectedly frank and candid observer is the former United States senator Gary Hart. Even more unexpected is the venue where his scathing remarks appear, the quintessential establishment journal, Time magazine. His article is reminiscent of the brilliant Walter Karp and other theorists and writers on classical republicanism. Years ago Gary Hart appeared as a talking head in a documentary I show my students on Machiavelli’s The Prince. Old Nick took the ancient Greek notion of “the politics of virtue” and revolutionized political thought by redefining it as “the politics of power.” The State, from the ancient Sumerians to the present, was never about the pursuit of civic virtue or the common good. It has always been an exploitative and parasitic criminal organization which preys on its supplicants, shills, suckers, subjects, citizens. That lexicology describing its victims is the only evolution it has undertaken in five thousand years.

Thanks to Robert T. Murphy

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3:48 am on July 1, 2015